Bobby Enriquez

Known as “the Wildman” for the frenetic energy of his keyboard work, Bobby Enriquez developed into a largely self-taught virtuoso after beginning to play at age four and turned professional by fourteen. Throughout the 1960s he worked in Manila, Hong Kong, and Honolulu, at one point serving as musical director for Don Ho. After reaching the mainland in the early 1970s, he joined Richie Cole’s band for tours in 1980–1981 and made his first appearance on record in 1981. The eight albums he recorded for GNP/Crescendo between 1981 and 1985 established his standing. Although an overabundance of song quotations in his solos—some of them deliberately absurd—kept him from being celebrated for refined taste, his technical command and quick inventive reflexes remained striking. Additional sessions appeared on Portrait in 1987, while a 1990 date for the Japanese label Paddle Wheel later received a domestic release on Evidence.